The Nation of Domination (NOD) was a professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from November 18, 1996 to November 28, 1998. The Rock was a 1 time Intercontinental Champion and D'Lo Brown was a 2 time European Champion while in the group.

The original Nation of Domination was formed in 1996 in the USWA. The group was led by PG-13, (a tag team consisting of JC Ice and Wolfie D). The group also consisted of Kareem Olajuwon, Sir Mohammad, Elijah, Shaquille Ali, Randy X, and Queen Moisha. This group never really got off the ground in the USWA but they saw greater success in the WWF.

The most well-known faction with the name was the heel group formed in the WWF when wrestler Faarooq was joined by manager Clarence Mason. The two men were also accompanied by three unnamed actors, Albert Armstrong, Charles Hines, and William Beach, who were supposed to represent other members of the Nation. The group was based loosely on the Nation of Islam (with group members adopting Islamic names and wearing Muslim headgear) and the Black Panther Party. The extremism of the group's pro-black theme at times including the 'Nation Salute' and Faarooq's angry tirades on the microphone garnered them an excessive amount of heat from fans in arenas. Many wrestlers joined the heel stable over time including PG-13 (J.C. Ice and Wolfie D), Crush, D'Lo Brown, and Savio Vega. Their first feud was with Ahmed Johnson, who had a rivalry with Faarooq since summer 1996. At Royal Rumble 1997, the Nation assisted Faarooq during his match against Johnson. Faarooq lost by disqualification after Crush interfered and attacked Johnson.

A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government (for example the inhabitants of a sovereign state) irrespective of their ethnic make-up. In international relations, nation can refer to a country or sovereign state. The word nation can more specifically refer to people of North American Indians, such as the Cherokee Nation that prefer this term over the contested term tribe.

According to Joseph Stalin writing in 1913 in Marxism and the National Question: "a nation is not a racial or tribal, but a historically constituted community of people;" "a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration, but a stable community of people;" "a common language is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a nation is formed only as a result of lengthy and systematic intercourse, as a result of people living together generation after generation;" "a common territory is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a common economic life, economic cohesion, is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a common psychological make-up, which manifests itself in a common culture, is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture." According to Stalin, this would exclude Jews as they have no common territory.

Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson, later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor, producer, and retired professional wrestler. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Described by WWE (formerly the WWF) chairman Vince McMahon as the most profitable wrestler in the company's history, he gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF during the mid-to-late 1990s as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied McMahon, his boss. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping off McMahon and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move. McMahon inducted Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

Austin held twenty championships throughout his professional wrestling career, and is a six-time WWF Champion as well as the fifth Triple Crown Champion. He was also the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, as well as the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles. He was forced to retire from in ring competition in early 2003 due to a series of knee and neck injuries sustained throughout his career. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as the Co-General Manager and "Sheriff" of Raw. Since 2005, he has continued to make occasional appearances. In 2011, Steve Austin returned to WWE to host the reality series Tough Enough.

Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian professional and amateur wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and most notably, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled under both his own name, and ring name The Blue Blazer. A member of the Hart wrestling family, Hart was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the youngest of 12 children to Stampede Wrestling promoter and WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart and Helen Hart.

Among other accolades, Hart was a one-time world champion: a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion; a two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion; one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion; one-time WWF European Champion and four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion. He was also the winner of the 1994 WWF King of the Ring. Hart has been cited by a number of peers as one of the WWF's greatest professional wrestlers.

Hart died on May 23, 1999 when an equipment malfunction occurred during his entrance from the rafters of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., at the WWF's Over the Edge pay-per-view event.